Card shuffler



B. G. HALL CARD SHUFFLER Dec. 3, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 9,1954 Attorhegy Dec. 3, 1957 B. G, HALL 2,815,214

CARD SHUFFLER 'Filed April 9, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 r 7 az/ VInverti-Or:

Basl. G. Hall.

Attornevg.

CARD SHUFFLER Basil G. Hall, Minneapolis, Minn. Application April 9,1954, Serial No. 422,100

3' Claims. (Cl. 273-149) The invention relates to a card shuffler thatis used for shufiing the standard form of playing cards such as is usedwhen playing such games as bridge, canasta, samba and bolivia, or anyother games where cards are to be shufled.

The purpose of this device is to make it easy for the participant toreadily shuffle one, two or three decks of cards by the sirnp1e means ofsplitting the cards into two equal portions, placing the two portionsupon sets of rollers Within the shuflier, turning a crank fordischarging the cards primarily one at a time upon a card rack fromwhich the operator removes the shuflled cards.

A further object is to provide adjustable means for -regulating thenumber of cards that are discharged through each card clearance openingduring the sbuffling cycle of two separated portions of cards.

Another object is to provide means for regulating the up and downmovement of a gauge which regulates the clearance opening fordischarging oneor more card's from a deck which are moveable throughsaid clearance by means of revolvin g rolls.

A further object is to provide a pair of spaced apart upper rolls and apair of spaced apart lower rolls each retaining thereon a stack -ofcards, means provided at the discharge end of said rolls for retainingsaid cards and means for providing clearance opening for the dischargingof said cards one or more at a time, when said rolls are revolvedclockwise, the said cards fal1 on a rack positioned at the discharge endof said rolls.

A further object is to provide a pair of spaced apart upper rolls and apair of spaced apart lower rolls each retaining thereon a stack ofcards, means provided at the discharge end of said rolls for retainingsaid cards Wrth adjustable means attached thereto for providingclearance opening for the discharging of said cards one or more at atime, when said rolls are revolved clockwise the said cards fa1l on acard rack conveniently positioned at the discharge end of said rolls.

A further object is to provide a means whereby the frictional engagementbetween the releasing card and the gauge at the ciearance opening isminimized to a tangential contact, thereby eliminating practically a11resistanace for the releasing of a card from each deck through theclearance opening by the revolving rolls during a shuffling cycle.

A further object of the nvention is to position the clearance openingthrough which a card is released when shuifling so that a forward cornerof said card will be the only part thereof required to pass through saidclearance opening.

A further object is to provide a shuflier that is attractive in design,simple in construction, easy to assemble and easy to operate.

A further object is to provide on all feed rolls rubber bands or tireshaving peripheries of such construction and design that Willcontinuously release from the stack of cards, thereon, durirrg ashufliing cycle, one card after another through its respective clearanceopening to a card rack positioned in front and below the card feeddischarge rolls.

Other and further objects of the invention and the advantages of thesame Will be pointed out hereinafter and indicated in the appendedclaims, or Will be obvious to one skilled in the art upon undertsandingthe present disclosure.

For the purpose of this application there has been elected to set forthin more or less deta-il one particular structure but it is to beunderstood that it is here presented for illustrative purposes only andis not to be accorded any interpretation such as might have the effectoflimiting what is claimed as the invention short of its true andcomprehensive scope in the art.

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the card shufiier in shufflingposition;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view on the line 2 2 of Figure 5;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary full size sectional view of the line 3-3 ofFigure 1;

Figure 4 is a fragrnentary detailed sectional view With some of theparts broken away taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 5*-5 of Figure2;

Figure 6 is an isometric view of a combination spacer and card guideplate;

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of Figure 1;

Figure 8 shows the position of the card shuflier, When the cards are tobe removed after having been shuffled; and

Figure 9 is a detailed sectional view 011 the line 9-9 of Figure 2.

Referring to the drawings in detail numerals 10 and 12- designate theside plates of the card shuflier. The plates being spaced apart by twospecial U-shaped spacers 14 and they are held firmly and rigidly intheir respective position by the downward extending ends 15 of saidspacers 14 by meaus of the interfitting detents at 16 and the threadedheaded screws 18 as clearly shown in Figures 5 and 9. The piates arefurther held together and spaced apart by an upper U-shaped tie plate 20and an intermediate U-shaped tie plate 22. These plates Will be referredto in the specifications and claims as a gauge plate as they retainthereon the gauge 36. The rearward extensions 24 and 25 of plates 29 and22 have threaded holes therein for receivirrg suitably thrcaded headedscrews 26 which tie said side plates and gauge plates together. Bach ofthe gauge plates 20 and 22 have at their lower edge a rearwardlyextending lug 28 having aperture 30 therein for receiving one end oftension spring 32, the other end of said spring being anchored in lug 34of a gauge 36 which is pivoted at 38 to its respective gauge plate. Eachgauge and gauge plate has this assembled construction With the lug 34 ofthe gauge to the right of pivot 38 as clearly shown in Figure 3. To theleft of pivot 38 said gauge 36 has a projection 40 extendingperpeudicular therefrom and in the same piane as lug 34. Bach projection40 is engaged by a screw 42, which threads into the lower tapped hoie 43in piate 10 just belcw extensions 24 of plates 20 and 22. It can bereadily seen that turning screw 42 inwardly moves the gauge 36 downabout the pivot 38 and increases the tension of spring 32, turning saidscrew out, the gauge 36 moves up about the pivot 38 by means of thetension spring 32. The contour of said gauge 36 is of an irregular shapeand has one end substantially arc-shaped or semi-circular at 44. Thissemi-circular extension 44 is placed below projection 40 and as near tothe inside of extension 24 as possible. The gauge 36 is assembled on itsrespective tie or gauge plate at pivot 38, thus having a longer leverarm to the screw 42 than to the spring 32, making it easy to operatesaid gauge up or down by means of screw 42 and spring 32. The purpose ofthe semi-circular shaped portion 44 Will be more fully describedhereinafter.

The upper tie or gauge plate 20 has a rearward extending shelf 45 havingtwo threaded holes therein for receiving headed screws 46 that retain-the cover 48 over the top of plates 10 and 12. Sutably mounted betweensaid plates for retaining substantiaily equai portions of a full deck,two decks or three decks of cards that are to be shuffled, is a pair ofupper spaced apart driven rolls 50 and 51, and a lower pair of spacedapart rolls 52 and 53. Rolls, G, 51 and 52 being driven and roll 53being the driving roll. The arrangement of these rolls is olear- 1yshown in Figure 7. The distance between the plates is slightly greaterthan the width of said rolls, thus the shafts 54 of rolls 50, 51 and 52can freely rotate in their respective apertures 58 in the plates and 12.The driving roll 53 has a shaft 57 mounted securely therein which isfreely mounted in like apertures or bearings 58 in the plates 10 and 12.The shaft 57 extends out beyond plate 10 in the form of a handle 60 andhas an operating knob 62 attached theret0. The ends Of all the rollsadjacent the inner face of plate 12 have half round-shaped grooves orpulleys 64 out therein for retaining a driving belt 66. The roll 53having the shaft 57 securely attached thereto drives the belt 66 and allthe rolls in a clockwise direction when the handle 60 is turned in aclockwise direction by means of the knob 62.. It Will be noted that thegrooves or pulleys 64 on rolls 51 and 52 are reduced in size incomparison to pulleys on rolls 50 and 53. The reduction is 2 to 1 thusthe rolls 51 and 52 Will rotate twice as fast as the rear rolls 50 and53. Thus the cards can be run through the shuffler rapidly because thecards .travel ofi of rolls 51 and 52 at twice the speed which theoperator is revolving the rolls 50 and 51. It can be readi1y seen if theoperator rotates the handle 60 rapidly the cards Will be released to thecard rack in minimum time; il": rotated slowly the cards Will bereleased slower or over a longer period of time.

A wire card guide 68 is held in the position shown in Figures 1 and 2 bymeans in spacers 14, thus preventing the sides of the cards nearest thebelt 66 from contacting said belt at 67 when the cards on roll 52 arebeing released through opening 76 to the card rack 70. The card rack 70is pivotally mounted at 70a between the inside of plates 10 and 12 nearthe lower edge 11 and 13 of plates 10 and 12 directly under the centerof rolls 52. The card rack 70 receives the cards as they are dischargedfrom rolls 51 and 52 during a shutfling cycle While the shufiier is inposition shown in Figures 1 and 2, and after said shuf'fling cycle theshufller is then positioned as shown in Figure 8, thus the rackautomatically assumes the position shown and the cards can be readilyremoved for dealing. The rack 70 consists of a base mernber 71 havingextending upwardly therefrorn front and rear wall members 71a and 71b.The wails 71a and 71h retain the cards on the base member 71 during ashuffling cycle, and also when the shuffler is changed from the positionshown in Figure 1 to the position in Figure 8.

Spaced apart on all the rolls are a pair of rubber bands or tires 73being of a suitabie thickness and Width which cause the stacked cards tobe moved into engagement With the gauge plate and to be released fromeach respective stack of cards one card at a time through the openings76 into the card rack 70. The face surface of the tires 73 generallyshould be slightly roughened to readily move the card engaged therewithforwardly when the rolls are turning in a clockwise direction. A band ofrubber or tire having a cloth covered face surface wi1l provide thenecessary roughened surface which engages the card and Will cause thecards to move more rapidly than a plain tace (ire surface.

In the figures there is shown less than a full deck of cards 75 so thatthe detail structure of the shuffler can be shown. As seen in Figure 2the cards shown in full lines on the rolls are in the process of beingshuffled, the cards shown in dotted lines 75a show the cards leaving therolls through clearance 76. The cards in full lines 75h in the rack showthe position of the cards after sbuffling.

The mernbers 14, as shown in Figure 6, provide the means for guiding thecards onto the tires 73 of the rolls 51 and 52 when they are beinginserted by the operator for shufling. The mernbers 14 are also designedto provide clearance at 17 for the belt 66 as it travels between rolls50 and 51. If this mernber 14 was not provided the cards at the start ofa shufling cycle would jam up at the gauge plate and would not allow therollers to rotate until the cards were adjusted by the operator. Withmernber 14 assembled as shown, jamrning is prevented because therotation of the rear rolls moves the entire deck of cards against thegauge plate, when the deck of cards is resting on the elevated edge ofmember 14 and the forward ends of said cards are not engagng the gaugeplates 20 or 22.

The operation of the shuffler is as follows: The gauges 36 are firstadjusted so that clearance between the top of the rubber band 73 and thesemi-circular portion 44 cf the gauge 36 is slightly more than thethickness of one of the cards of a deck. Figure 4 shows the clearance76, shown in full lines, and a card 75 released through said clearanceWith another card in position ready to replace the discharged card. Itshould be understood that this clearance 76 can be set for releasing aplurality of cards at once if desired. By turning screw 42 outward theend of screw moves out away from projection 40, then the spring 32 pullsdown on lug 34, raising the semicircular portion 44 and thus increasingthe clearance 76. To make the clearance 76 smaller the screw 42 isturned in forcing the projection 40 downward increasing the tension ofspring 34, moving semi-circular portion 44 of the gauge down and thusdecreasing the clearance at 76.

the game being played requires the use of more than one deck, the cards75 are divided into two equal groups. The one group is placed upon therubbers 73 of rolls 50 and 51, the other group upon rubbers 73 of rolls52 and 53. The dealer or operator now turns the handle 60 by means ofthe knob 62 in a clockwise direction. The rolls all turn in clockwisedirection, being rotated under the influence of belt 66 and the cardsare fed by means of the rotating rolls one at a time through theclearance 76 onto the rack 70. The turning of the rolls continues untilall the cards are discharged from the rolls onto the rack. When thiscycle is completed the card shufller is placed in positon shown inFigure 8 where the operator removes the cards. It can readily be seenfrom the drawings and as explained that one card from the top group willfall upon the one from the lower group as they drop into the card rack.It is to be understood the gauges can be adjusted so that two or morecards Will fal1 from one group while one falls from the other group.

In Figure 7 the semi-cireular pertion 44 of the gauges as seen from therear is to the extrerne right band side of the shuflier and theengagement between the cards and the gauge 36 at extension 44 isadjacent the corner of the discharging card. If a card has been deformedor curved up at the center it Will readily be discharged because thecorner of the card Will go through the olearance 76 With minimumengagement between the card and the gauge at 44. Regardless of the shapeof the cards they can rapidly be discharged through the olearance 76because of the frictional engagement between the bottom card and therubber bands 73. There is shown a card shufler constructed for receivingthe cards where the cards are placed iongitudinally in the shuffler. Itshould be understood that said shufler can be made for receiving thecards longitudnally, length or Width wise. As shown in Figure 2, whenthe cards rest upon a pair of rolls they are not in contact With theupper edge of members 14 but as soon as the cards leave the rear rolls,

the cards then contact the upper edge of members 14 whi1e being movedforward by the roll 51 or 52. By this arrangement there is a minimum ofdrag on the card or cards bsing discharged through the clearances 76.

What is claimed:

1. A card shuffler comprising side plates spaced apart by a plurality ofspacer members, 2. pair of spacer rolls carried by the side plates andadapted to receive a stack of: cards, one of said rolls adapted torotate at about two tmes the speed of the other roll, a member mountedbetween the pair of spaced rolls in substantially the same horizontalpiane, a second pair of spaced apart rolls positicxnsd above the firstpair of spaced rolls, one of said rolls of the second pair adapted torotate at about two times the speed of the other roll of the secondpair, a member positioned between the second pair of rolls, means farrctating he rolls, a gauge plate mounted in a plana above and adjacentche faster rotatable roll of each pair of rolls to provide dischargeclearance, a gauge pivbally mauned on each gauge plate and adapted tomove substantiay paralisi thereto, one end of each gaugs resilientlyconnected to the gauge plate and the other end of the gauge having arounded card contacting porion, said rcunded portion contactng the cardadjacent one edge for a distance considerably less than half the Widthof a card.

2. A mechancal card shuffler having card receiving means on two levelsfor supporting piles of cards, a shufied card receiving compartrnent, agauge plate adjacent to and in a plana above ons end of each cardreceiving means and between the card receiving means and the cardreceiving compartment, a gauge adjustng means, a gauge pivotally mountedon each gauge plate, the pivot point of each gauge located to provide ashort arm and a long arm, means for reslienly connecting the *short arrnto the gauge plate for urging the long arm against the gauge adjustingmeans, the long arm having a substantially arcshaped member projectingtherefrom adjacent an end, said arc-shaped member adapted to contactcards adjacent an edge for a distance less than about half the distanceof the card Width and means for moving cards from the card receivingmeans to the shuffled card receiving compartment.

3. A card shufier comprising side members held in p0sition by aplurality of spacer mernbers, two pairs of rotatable spaced apart rolls-for receiving cards, one pair of rolls spaced above the other pair, ashelf 1ike member posizonsd between each pair of rolls, one edge of eachshelf like member in a plane higher than the remainder of the shelf likemember, a gauge plate attached to che side members and positionedadjacent the surface of one of each pair of rolls, gauge adjustingmeans, a gauge pivotally mounted on each gauge plate, the pivot pointlocated so as to provide a short arm and a long arm, the short armconnected by a spring to the gauge plate for urging the long arm againstthe gauge adjusting means, the long arrn provided With an arwshapedportion for contacting cards adjacent one edge for a dstance less thanabout half the Width of the cards a shufied card receiving means andmeans for rotating said rolls to move cards from said rolls to theshufied card receiving means.

References Ced in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 999,428Baker Aug. 1, 1911 1,292,377 Runyan Jan. 21, 1919 1,847,346 LUX Mar. 1,1932 1,955,926 Matthaey API. 24, 1934 2,159,958 Sachs May 23, 1939FOREIGN FATENTS 12,427 Great Britain 1891

